“I’ve never been one for doing things just to impress people.” He slid a glance her direction. “Although I’ve been rethinking that since meeting you.”
“You don’t need to impress me,” Molly said. He already had with his kind words and ready smile.
But Ava hadn’t been exposed to those yet. She pulled her three-year-old SUV into the restaurant parking lot at the same time as Molly and Reggie. Paisley caught sight of them and waved excitedly, but the expression on Ava’s face wasn’t quite so smiley. Had this been a mistake?
14
“Grandma!” Paisley squealed and raced to give Molly a hug.
Ava approached at a slower pace, her smile tentative. “Hi, Mom,” she said, and traded kisses with Molly. Then she turned to Reggie and the smile was barely there. She looked like a woman about to shake hands with a con artist.
“This is my daughter, Ava,” Molly said.
Reggie held out a big hand. “I’m happy to meet you, Ava.”
Ava didn’t echo back his words, but she did shake his hand.
“And this is Paisley,” Molly said.
“Hi,” Paisley said. She had no problem greeting Reggie with a smile. Any friend of Grandma’s.
“That’s a nice name,” Reggie said to her.
“My mommy gave it to me.”
“Your mommy has good taste,” he said.
Molly could almost hear her daughter thinking,And that’s more than I can say for my mommy.
“Shall we go in?” he suggested.
“Yes!” hooted Paisley, and ran off toward the entrance.
“Watch for cars!” her mother called after her.
The place was, as usual, kid mayhem, with at least two birthday parties in progress. Once they’d gotten game tickets, it was the last they saw of Paisley for half an hour. It gave the adults time to talk. Or at least try to over the noise level.
“So, you’re one of my mom’s customers?” Ava started.
“Yep, been coming into the post office for the last year to buy stamps. At least twice a week.”
“That’s a lot of stamps,” Ava observed.
“I write a lot of letters to my representative,” he said with a chuckle. “And I never buy a whole book. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have an excuse to see your mother’s smiling face.”
“It’s your face that’s always shining,” Molly told him. “There’ve been a lot of times when you were the one bright spot in my day.”
“Do you live around here?” Ava asked. He cupped an ear in an effort to hear over the din, and she repeated her question.
“In Bremerton,” he said. “Been here for years. I started out working at the shipyard back when I was a young buck.”
Ava nodded thoughtfully. “Have you got any family here?”
This was starting to feel like an inquisition. Molly began to squirm.
He shook his head. “Sadly, no. Never had a family. Both my folks are gone, and I lost my baby sister to breast cancer last year. Only got a cousin left, and he’s in North Carolina.”
“Gosh, that’s hard,” Molly said.
